


The brains of Manhattan and the king of brooklyn

by angry_kid_with_no_money



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Angst, Background Relationships, Fluff, M/M, Spavid, Trans Male Character, Trans davey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27578870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angry_kid_with_no_money/pseuds/angry_kid_with_no_money
Summary: David Jacob's and his kid brother Les are joining the newsies after their father is injured. Davey is both excited and terrified at the prospect of meeting new people but hes hiding a few pretty big secrets.OrDavey Jacob's is transgender and falling head over heels for the king of brooklyn
Relationships: Spot Conlon & David Jacobs, Spot Conlon/David Jacobs
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

David Jacob's left their house quickly, tugging his younger brother, Les, behind him. Neglecting to call goodbye to the rest of his family. He was ready for his first day of work.

Sure, he hated the prospect of meeting new people, he always did, but he knew Les would do the talking for both of them. Plus, he was beyond excited at the opportunity to start new with people. To introduce himself as David Jacob's to people who wouldn't ignore him and continue calling him by his dead name. As long as Les didnt mess it up. His brother understood when Davey explained everything to him but he was prone to slip ups. A lot.

They reached newsies square far quicker than he anticipated, although they were walking pretty fast he admitted to himself as he took in the scene and blinked. Bracing a hand firmly on Les's shoulder to stop him running over to the group. 

He wasnt particularly sure what to make of what was happening. A group of kids, who he presumed were the other newsies, had surrounded two boys who looked similar enough to be brothers and were dressed well enough to definitely not be newsies and were generally shoving each other around. Before he had a chance to really react, a bell rang and the kids ran over to where the papers were being sold. Davey looked down at Les and shrugged, walking over to join the line, lightly pulling Les behind him. 

After a few minutes of Davey looking around and trying to work out some of the newsies names, they were suddenly at the front of the line and the man was staring at him expectantly. Fuck. He didnt know what he was doing.

"Hey. A new kid," the man laughed unpleasantly. Luckily, or not so luckily, davey wasnt sure, he was saved from having to come up with a responce by Les stepping out from behind him and declaring that he was new too.

"Twenty papers please," god he hated how feminine his voice sounded. Especially when he was nervous.

"Cash?" The man glared at him. At this point a good amount of the other newsies were staring at them which definitely wasnt helping.

"I- I pay you back when I've sold them?" He asked softly. That's what their dad had told them would happen. 

The man laughed, as did several of the others "yeah and everytime you loose a tooth I put a penny under your pillow. Now drop the cash or move it along."

Davey swallowed down a sarcastic retort and put the money down, moving to get the papers when one of the brothers he recognised from earlier slammed a handful into his chest. Fuck that hurt. He took them and glared at the other before going to sit on the steps with the others, counting his papers to check he got the right amount as the others continued talking around him. Les sat next to him, visibly bored. He frowned slightly, only 19? That couldn't be right. He sat there and counted them again. Still 19. Frowning he stood up, quickly telling Les to stay put before going over to the window.

"Um, excuse me? I payed for 20 but you've only given me 19?" Silently praying someone heard him. They did, the old man behind the window instantly glared at him again.

"See how nice I was ta tha new kid? And what do I get for my chivalry? ungrounded accusations." 

Davey wasnt sure unnecessary amounts of sarcasm when someone was confused counted as being nice but he didnt comment on it. Letting the older boy who the others seemed to look to as their leader take his stack and begin counting them. "I just want what I payed for" he protested softly. 

Before the man could respond, the boy who'd taken his papers cut in. "New kids right weasel, theres only 19 but hey I'm sure it's an honest mistake, 'specially since Oscar here cant count to 20 with his shoes on" he grins as the brother Davey assumed was Oscar lunged at him whilst the other handed him another paper, glaring at him. Davey took it swiftly and put all 20 of them in his bag before turning his head sharply as he heard the boy again. 

"100 papes for ta new kid." No no no. Fuck no. He wasnt taking charity or help from anyone. Even if he and Les didnt have a fucking clue between them. 

He awkwardly stands there as the papers are piled into his arms and the boy pushes him away from the windows.

"Look, we arent excepting charity from anyone. I dont even know you and I dont care to," he holds them back out to the boy. Cursing his voice still.

"They call him cowboy!" Les pipes up from behind the boy, cowboy or whatever. Davey sighed at his brothers inability to stay still for more than five minutes and lightly pulled him closer as 'cowboy' laughed.

"Yeah, that and a lot of other things. Names jack Kelly." He didnt even acknowledge the papers Davey was trying to give back to him.

"I'm Les! And this is my brother, David!" 

Davey silently thanked whatever god was up there that les hadn't messed up and shrugged slightly "yeah whatever, regardless. I dont want your help." 

A kid in the crowd laughed, leaning on a crutch "selling with Jack in the chance of a lifetime! You learn from him, you learn from the best." Davey could not care less and told the kid exactly that. Prompting several laughs and Jack's hand on his shoulder which he did not like in the slightest.

"Anyway, if you're 'the best' why do you want to work with us?" He raises an eyebrow and deliberately steps back out of reach. 

"Well I ain't got an adorable kid brother to front for me have I?" Jack grins and crouches down in front of Les, "say kid, how old are you?"

"10!" Les smiles, not noticing as Davey subtly rolls his eyes and looks around the square at the other newsies watching the interaction.

"Well if anyone asks you say your 7, alright? Younger sells more papes." Jack stands up, pulling Les closer to him in a way Davey so often did. He smiles and looks over at Davey "so my 2 bits come out on top and then we split the rest sayyy 70-30."

"No, fifty- fifty" davey says quickly.

Jack frowns and then smirks slightly "60-40 or I forget the whole thing." 

Davey sighs and looks at him, they needed money and he knew les would never shut up if he dropped this. "Fine."

Jack grins again and spits on his hand, holding it out.

"That's disgusting." Davey blinks.

"That's just tha price of doin business!" He laughs.

Very, very slowly, davey spits on his own hand and reaches out to shake Jacks, quickly pulling his hand back and wiping it on his trousers.

Jack laughs and looks over at the others "Newsies! Hit the streets! The sun is up, the headline stinks and this kid ain't getting any younger!" He grins and with that, took off with Les, leaving Davey to run after them. Not something he was too fond of doing with shitty bandages wrapped, probably too tight around his chest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Alright, someone tell me why I'm running! No ones chasing me, I'm not going any further until you tell me what's going on." He couldn't breathe. Davey leaned against the wall, trying to discreetly shift the bandages. It was hard enough normally but after running through the square, across the street, up several flights of stairs and then back down again he felt like he was about to pass out.

Luckily, Jack had decided that here was good enough to stop and pulled him and Les through a door he hadn't noticed before and into.... backstage of a theater? Honestly he didnt really care at this point but Les seemed happy to look around. He stood up, breathing heavily and looked at their new selling partner who dragged them all this way.

"Who was that man? And why was he chasing you? And what's this refuge he was talking about?-" 

A woman dressed in bright pink and purple with several huge feathers walked down the set of stairs he'd been leaning against, cutting him off as she waved the feathers at them. Not wanting to start a fight, Davey forced himself to stand up properly and grabbed Les's hand, getting ready to leave. Only apparently Jack knew the woman. Davey wasnt sure whether or not to be surprised at this point if he was being honest but he was keeping a decent grip on his brothers shoulder.

Oh, Jack was speaking to them. Shit. He'd missed all of that. Luckily his awkward polite nodding seemed fine for the woman as she immediately bent down and started cooing over Les whilst Davey looked over at Jack who seemed very pleased with himself.

"Hey Medda," Jack grinned at him and looked at the woman who Davey assumed was called Medda. "Got a little situation out on the street, dont suppose we could stay here for a while?"

"Of course! You dont have to ask!" Medda smiled and tickled both of them under the chin with her feather before looking over at a man carrying a stand with candy on it "let these kids have whatever they want, I'm onstage now." She smiles at each of them and goes onto said stage.

And Jack was pulling him into the wings by his tie. Well shit, that was new. He still couldn't breathe, he needed to get the wraps off and soon. Looking around Davey quickly spotted a toilet and nudged Jack, telling him to keep an eye on Les. Thankfully, Jack was far too distracted to ask him where he was going and Davey was able to go take them off quickly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

People were yelling. Running past them. Trolleys were on fire. He didn't know where Les was. His chest was covered in bruises. Jack was standing far too close. Jack had an arm around his shoulders. Jack was talking to him. If he looked down wrong he'd see everything.

Jack had let go of him, finally, and walked over to the edge of the sidewalk where Les was asleep, blending in with the wall. That got rid of one major problem at least, Davey thought to himself as Jack lifted his brother up. 

"Look at that, he slept through it all" he laughs, holding him effortlessly. "We should probably get him back to yours though." 

Davey nods numbly and starts walking, trying to act normal. Somehow it seemed to be working. Somehow.

They reached the front door of the Jacob's house and Davey paused, one hand on the door handle, "why dont you stay for dinner?"  
Please refuse, please refuse, please refuse, please refuse.

"Nah I got... a friend waiting for me." Jack was definitely lying but Davey wasnt about to complain.

"Alright. Yeah that's cool, I'll take Les and I'll meet you in the square tomorrow morning. Yeah?"

Jack laughs and nods, handing Les over to him before jokingly ripping his hat and starting down the stairs and Davey went inside with his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo  
> That's the first chapter, uh it's mostly just introducing the plot. Anything that didnt get mentioned happened the same way it did in the film or I couldn't be bothered to write it as it wasbt relevant to the plot  
> The ending is different cause Davey is still a girl to his parents and I dont want jack to find out for ya know, plot reasons  
> It should be explained later on in the boom hopefully


	2. Chapter 2

"If we dont sell papes then no one sells papes so no one is going anywhere till they put the price back where it was."

"What so like a strike?" 

Jack blinked, considering it "yeah! Like a strike!" 

Shit. He'd been kidding and he hoped to God Jack was kidding too but a part of Davey knew that Jack was dead serious about this. It was gonna end in tears, or worse but Davey wasnt going to let himself think about that. Not yet anyway. 

Everything was happening very quickly and Davey was not too fond of it if he was being honest. Something he prided himself on. There was no backing out now, the other newsies were excited and ready to start beating up kids who didnt strike with them. Something he'd protested against but for the most part been ignored. So much for being second in command. 

If you cant beat em, join em, seemed to have become his new life motto, he thought to himself as he watched Jack climb up and write strike in huge letters across the board in chalk. A decent sized crowd had gathered around the chanting newsies as Davey stood to the side, keeping an eye on Les. There was a hand on his shoulder and Davey instantly tensed up, turning towards the owner of said hand as he dislodged it quickly. 

"Are you their leader?" A well dressed man holding a notepad and pen smiled down at him.

"I- uh I guess?" Davey looked over at the group and then back at the man. 

He nodded, writing something down before ripping the page out and handing it to Davey "Bryan Denton, writer for the New York Sun. Keep me updated, I want to know everything that happens." 

Davey blinks, taking it "do- do you really think we could be in the paper?" 

"Striking against Pulitzer? The most powerful man in New York City? I reckon you could make it on the front page. Above the fold." Denton smiles again "keep me updated" and with that he was gone. 

Davey slowly puts the bit of paper in his pocket and makes his way back over to the group where Jack grabbed hold of his shoulders and pulled him to the front. 

"I need some of those... whadaya call em?" He makes wild hand gestures.

"Ambassadors?" 

"Yeah that's right!" Jack turns to the others "alright I need you guys to be ambastards and go tell the other newsies that we're on strike!" 

The newsie Davey had come to know as kid blink immediately pipes up "say Jack I'll take Harlem!" And he was gone. 

Race followed him swiftly going "I got midtown!" 

"Hey I'll take the bronx," Crutchie pulls another newsie with him. 

"Ok alright, Specs, skittles, you take Queens and Snider you take the East Side, Sniper you go with him." Each of them left, Davey taking the opportunity to try learn some more names. "Ok so how bout Brooklyn, who wants Brooklyn? Come on, Spot Conlon's territory!" 

Every single Newsie was very deliberately avoiding eye contact and Davey had completely zoned out.

Two minutes later Jack had decided that he was going to Brooklyn and taking Davey with him because of course he was.

"Sure I'll come to Brooklyn with you. Just as soon as you take our demands to Pulitzer," Davey was definitely not trying to find excuses to not go to Brooklyn.

Jack blinked at him "huh? Why?"

Davey shrugs "wouldn't our strike be more effective if someone in charge knew about it?"

He could practically hear the little cogs turning in Jack's brain as he thought about it before nodding and grabbing Les "alright then. We'll see if the kid softens him up a bit." He was gone before Davey could protest and he was fairly sure Jack had done that on purpose.

\---------------------------

"AND STAY OUT!!" Every single newsie turned from their conversation to look at Les and Jack being thrown out of the building. Davey covered his mouth in an attempt not to laugh.

"Well you can tell Pulizter that hes gonna need an appointment with me!" Jack yells back and Davey was fairly certain he was flipping the person off as the door closed.

"That went well," one of the kids next to him laughed at the quiet sarcasm as Davey walked back over to Jack and Les, who were telling everyone who could hear what happened, probably an exaggeration, and waiting for them to finish.

Eventually Jack turned to him "what's up Dave?"

Davey hmms and fishes the bit of paper out his pocket, handing it to jack "was talking to a man by the name of Denton earlier, he writes for the New York Sun. What's to write an article on our strike." 

Jack stares at him blankly "we could be in the papes?" 

"He reckons front page," Davey shrugs, smiling a little to himself at Jack's expression. "He also wants an interview," he pointed to the short message as the bottom of the scrap of paper that just read   
'you and your friend, 12:30, interview? Lunch on me.'

\--------------------------

An hour or so later, Davey was sitting at a table with Jack, Les and Denton. Food in front of him, although he wasnt eating much, as they answered the reporters questions. Sarah had done the wraps too tight this morning, especially after the events of yesterday, and he was starting to feel the effects. But he looked masculine and none of the others had questioned it, which made it worth it to him.

"And that's when he kicked us out." Jack finishes, looking annoyed as Davey turned back into the conversation. Laughing a little as he remembered the look on Jack's face when he got kicked out. Denton nodded, writing stuff down in his notebook which he promptly shoved into his pocket as he stood up, smiling again.

"Hey, Denton?" Jack sits up, continuing when the reporter turned back to him, "Jack Kelly. Make sure you get that. And no pictures." 

Denton nodded and paid for the meal before leaving. Davey decided not to question what Jack said and Les was too interested in stealing his brothers food to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I lowkey projecting onto Davey? Noooooooooyesoooooooo
> 
> Spot should be introduced in the next chapter   
> So yeah spavid shippers rise up


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i rewatched newsies recently and realised how inaccurate this is. might just roll with it, might rewrite this soon, depends if yall like this really :)

"So why is everybody so afraid of Brooklyn?" they'd been walking for ages and the end of the bridge was in sight as Davey's curiosity finally got the best of him. Jack turned to him and exchanged a look with Boots, who'd also been dragged along, before they both started laughing. Real helpful.

Eventually Jack decided to answer him properly, "well ya know, Brooklyn's the sixth largest city in the world-" logistically, Davey knew it was wrong to judge but something about the way they said 'world' bugged him. "-you got Brooklyn, you got everything and that Spot Conlon scares a lot of people." He shrugs and gestures, nearly hitting Davey in the face, "here we are."

********************

"Cowboy's newsies are goin' on strike"

"what."

"you heard me spot"

"why?"

Finch shrugged "Pulitzer raised the price of the papes, they didn't like that. They're on strike."

Spot nodded, staring him down. Finch was a Brooklyn newsie but he often switched between there and Manhattan, he'd started selling full time over there since Racetrack had started selling at Sheepshead which annoyed Spot to no end but it did mean Finch could relay anything important to him quickly without looking suspicious. "What are you gonna do then?"

He paused, considering it and Spot got the impression Finch hadn't actually thought about it till then. "I dunno," he answered after a moment. "But Cowboy is coming down in a bit with Boots and the new kid-" 

"New kid?" No one had mentioned Kelly had a new kid.

"Yeah, technically there's two, Davey and Les, but Les is like 10 so he ain't coming. Anyway, theys coming down to try convince you to join so be prepared Spotty." And with that, Finch grinned at him and left, leaving spot sitting on a stack of boxes by the river.

********************

"Well if it ain't jack be nimble jack be quick."

Davey followed Boots and Jack, off the bridge onto the docks and held a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun as the owner of the voice climbed down from a stack of boxes and walked over to them. He was small, barely looked a day over 14, and Davey towered over him by a good couple of inches. The boy was very pretty, he thought to himself before pausing to rethink in a moment of internalised horror. Luckily, or not so, Davey wasn't sure, Jack spoke up, interrupting his thought process.

"See you've moved up in the world Spot. Got yourself a river view and everything."

That was Spot Conlon? He was tiny. It took Davey far more effort than it should have to not laugh. The boy in question, Spot Conlon, grinned and spat on- over?- his hand before shaking Jack's and turning to Boots. For the most part, Davey was apparently invisible to Spot and he was completely fine with that.

"Heya Boots, how's it rolling?" Spot's grin became significantly less fake when he turned to the younger newsie and took one of the marbles held out, loading it into his slingshot and aiming it above Davey's head. He was pretty sure that was a deliberate attempt at intimidation. And it was working, Davey thought, watching the marble and stepping to the side slightly as Spot started speaking. "I been hearing things Jackie, things from Harlem, Queens, all around." He let the marble go and it whizzed past Davey's head. He turned just in time to watch it break a glass bottle on the wall behind him. "Little birdies chirping in my ear, They been saying that Jackie boys newsies are playing like they're goin' on strike."

"Yeah well we aren't playing, we are going on strike." Davey regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. Spot's attention immediately snapped to him and he stepped forward until he was right up in Davey's face who was slowly starting to realise why the other newsies were so afraid of him. They stayed like that for a few very tense moments and Davey got slightly distracted by Spot's eyes until he turned to look at Jack.

"What is this Jackie boy, some kinda walkin' mouth?" Davey made a slightly offended sound but got ignored.

"Yeah it's a mouth," Jack put a hand on Davey's shoulder and pulled him back, he resisted shrugging him off like he usually did. "A mouth with a brain and if you got half of one, you're gonna listen to what he's got to say." Davey stared at him blankly, hoping his face conveyed a general 'Jack what the fuck'. Jack just shrugged and pushed him forward gently to where Spot was leaning against the wall, the other Brooklyn newsies standing behind him.

Alright. Just be confident, you're making this up on the spot but it'll be fine. Davey took a deep breath and looked Spot in the eye, "well we started the strike but we can't do it alone so we been talking to other newsies all around the city-" 

"Yeah so they told me." Davey swallowed and nodded slightly, reminding himself to not get annoyed at Spot for interrupting him. You'd think he'd be used to it by now but it still annoyed him. "So what did they say?"

"Huh?" Davey blinked, trying to process the question, starting to speak again before Spot had a chance to repeat the question. "Oh right, well they said they were all waiting to see what Brooklyn did. What you did." He continued painfully rambling for a few minutes and it was fairly obvious he'd made this up on the spot. 

********************

Spot eventually decided to put the kid out of his misery and held a hand up to silence him. Jack had clearly sprung this on him, he had no idea what he was doing. "You're right Jackie, brains," he tried not to laugh at the surprised look on the kids face, "but i got brains too, and not just half of one. How do i know you punks won't run the first time someone comes at you with a club?" He poked Jack with his cane and raised an eyebrow.

"Cause I'm tellin ya Spot."

Spot rolled his eyes, Jack should know by now that he didn't trust the others word, "that's not good enough Jackie boy, you gotta show me." he shrugged and walked back other to where the group of newsies, "till then you can count Brooklyn out. I ain't loosing my kids on a few pennies."

"This isn't about pennies dumbass." Spot turned around sharply at the comment from The Mouth, ignoring the last word. The kid looked terrified, clearly hadn't been expecting Spot to hear him.

"Oh yeah? What is it about then Mouth? Go on, tell me." Jack looked nervous now, which Spot was pleased to note as Davey swallowed, visibly not a fan of all the attention focused on him. Even boots had stopped talking to the younger newsies to watch him.

"It's about power." Mouth spoke softly, his voice weirdly feminine but Spot ignored that. He knew it was a power play, he had been waiting for one of them to understand that. "Pulitzer raises the price of the papers for us instead of, I dunno those at the top, because he thinks we'll just take it and he can continue to take money from us, money we really can't afford to loose, and unless we stand our ground he'll just keep doing it. Better to get him to quit early rather than let it keep going." Spot nodded, letting him keep talking until he was done.

"Prove to me you can stand your ground, then we'll talk." He said firmly before leaving the two of them standing there in shock. The other newsies slowly went back to what they were doing before, some hovering around to glare until Jack took Boots and Mouth back to Manhatten .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones kinda short but i wanted to update with something, please leave comments and stuff  
> also tell me if you like the switching viewpoints or if you preferred just sticking to one per chapter :)


End file.
